Bead Grab Bag Giveaway and Contest

This year’s beading challenge, to destash all of my not-new beads, is coming along really well, and has resulted in some fun new designs and inspirations. One of the purposes of this mission is to lighten the size of my bead stash, in preparation for a big move later this year. Even though I’ve also been doing more frequent giveaways, things are not going as quickly as I would like.

Recently, I went through all of my extra seed beads, broom beads, and assorted bits, and created some fun Czech and Chinese bead soups, and now I want to find new homes for them. There are six prize packs in all, each one with three helpings of bead soup, an assortment of findings, and cord or ribbon. Each winner will also receive two PDF beading tutorials of their choice.

With six winners, the one comment-one entry style of giveaway that we usually do just doesn’t seem that fun. Instead, we’re going to have a little contest with Pinterest!

How to Enter:

1. If you do not have a Pinterest account, you can request an invite, and create some boards to organize your pins.

2. Follow one or more of my pinboards so that you can "share" your entries. (You can stop following after the contest closes if you like.)

3. Pin any image from Inspirational Beading or The Sage’s Cupboard, and include the tags @Mortira #Beading in the description, so that I can find your entry. Every pin counts as an entry, and you can enter as many times as you like!

Six winners will be drawn and announced on Monday March 26th. The contest is open to readers from Canada and the US.

Pinning Tips

1. Before you start pinning, create some pinboards with different categories to help you organize your finds. Check out the Pinterest help guide for just a few pinboard ideas.

2. You do not have to download the Pinterest bookmarklet to enter this contest. On ArtFire, just look for the Pin It button to clip any image from a page. You can also find lots of previous pins from Inspirational Beading to use. Repins count as an entry, as long as you include @Mortira #Beading in the description.

3. Just for fun, here are some fantastic pinboards that you might like to follow:

Lampwork Beads pinned by Artbeads.com
Colour Palettes pinned by COLOURLovers.com
Cool Jewelry Displays pinned by FusionBeads.com

If you have any questions about the contest, leave a comment here or email InspirationalBeading@gmail.com.

Good luck, and happy pinning!

Copyright 2012 Inspirational Beading
Subscribe to Inspirational Beading
Get inspired on Facebook and Google+

reade more... Résuméabuiyad

Jewelry Findings

My trip to Tel-Aviv was worthwhile.  I found the bead and jewelry craft shop half the size it used to be.  It seems that due to recession business was slack and they closed the jewelry tools section.  At least, after a lot of rummaging, I found heart shaped frames in two sizes, the square ones were gone.  I also found some large, clear plastic beads which can serve as "glass" plates for cakes or hanging kitchen lamps.

Here are photos of my experiments with these pieces.  I made dressing-table trays  and more boxes.  The boxes can be filled with cookies or chocolates as well as jewelry. I had fun making powder boxes, nail polish bottles, perfume bottles, etc. to fill the trays.  The perfume bottles are inspirations from Jennifer (www.plushpussycat.com.) and Maria Angeles (http://nipuntonicom.blogspot.com/), not as beautiful as the ones I received from you and treasure, but pretty enough.

 The cake is on the bead I mentioned.  It will look better with a  white crocheted doily underneath. Another experiment I do now.

Can't decide which I like better, the black or the white one.  Next I'll try other colors or perhaps decoupage....  The tiny goblets I put together from earrings pieces.

I am thrilled and happy to welcome new followers and am very grateful to you for finding my blog:

Carla - http://ninedollspupemunecas.blogspot.com/
Ginger - www.cardboarddollhouses.com.
Debfam 1608 - Cannot find your blog to follow.

I wish you a lovely weekend.  Blessings to all

reade more... Résuméabuiyad

Favorite Techniques: Friendship Bracelets

Today my guest is Michele of Quiet Mischief - a fantastic two-artist team creating stunningly intricate and clever jewelry designs.

Inspirational Beading: What is your all time favorite beading or jewelry technique?

Michele: I make friendship bracelets, which may seem pretty simple. I mean, everyone's made friendship bracelets, right? You get a few threads, make overhand knots for a while, and you're done. But the truth is that there's a whole world of knotting that most people who make the bracelets never get to. My current favorite technique is the second one I learned: alpha knotting. It is most known for making it easy to write words in a friendship bracelet, but I like it more for the ease of making pictures.

Inspirational Beading: How do you first learn to use this technique?

Michele: I first learned about the alpha style from my mother, who is the source of most of my craftiness. She had taught me how to make friendship bracelets when I was little, and when I showed a renewed interest in my late teenage years she showed me the tutorial she had found on the internet on how to knot letters into a bracelet. Later, after trying to use the traditional knotting style to make a bracelet with a flower pattern, I returned to the alpha technique and found it to be much better at accomplishing what I wanted.

Inspirational Beading: Of all the creations you’ve made with this technique, which one is your favorite?

Michele: This is a tough choice, but I have to go with my (currently) most technically advanced bracelet: my American flag bracelet. I designed the whole thing myself, including a couple of new techniques to make it possible. It's as accurate as I can make it, down to the 13 stripes and 50 stars.

Inspirational Beading: Can you share any tips for getting started with this method?

Michele: First of all, I recommend already having some practice with the traditional friendship bracelet knotting technique. Inconsistent tension (some knots too tight, some knots too loose, few just right) will be much more obvious in an alpha bracelet, so it's best to get those problems out of the way beforehand. Once you're ready, start with simple letters or pictures and use only two colors until you're more comfortable with the technique.

Inspirational Beading: Do you have a favorite material or color to use it with?

Michele: Most people who do friendship bracelets stick with embroidery floss, other craft thread, or hemp. I have also tried knotting with yarn, ribbon, and leather cord. Leather cord is fun because it's so new to me and everyone else, and I love knotting ribbon chokers, but for alpha bracelets there's nothing like good old embroidery floss. I use DMC brand and appreciate the huge range of colors available to me.

Inspirational Beading: If someone had to choose to learn only one technique, would you recommend this one?

Michele: Probably not. As much fun and versatile as alpha knotting is, it's rather difficult to master and much more so if one doesn't have a foundation in the traditional knotting style.

Inspirational Beading: In your opinion, what is the best way for beginners to learn this technique?

Michele: One of my long-term goals for my craft and my business is to write my own friendship bracelet book. Until that comes out, this friendship bracelet tutorial is the most comprehensive I have yet seen, with pictures and videos to illustrate the step-by-step instructions.

You can see even more amazing micro-macramé, and delightful sculptural duct-tape jewelry at Quiet Mischief on Etsy and DeviantArt, plus stay in touch with artists Michele and Lissi on Facebook and Twitter. Michele also offers plenty of tips and insights into crafting and jewelry business on her blog, Quiet Mischief and Company.

Copyright 2012 Inspirational Beading and Quiet Mischief and Company
Images Hosted by Pinterest
Subscribe to Inspirational Beading
Get inspired on Facebook and Google+

reade more... Résuméabuiyad

Inspired by Birds

Earlier this week I took a little inspiration from peacock feathers, and had a blast with the beautiful colors and patterns. Today I thought it would be fun to take things a little further, and find some inspiring birds for spring.

How helpless we are, like netted birds, when we are caught by desire! by sandrayara featuring evening bags

birds by shonagon featuring black jewelry

What’s your favorite bird? Has it ever inspired a fun beading design?

Copyright 2012 Inspirational Beading and Friends
Images Hosted by Pinterest
Subscribe to Inspirational Beading
Get inspired on Facebook and Google+

reade more... Résuméabuiyad

Natural Spring Greens

There was a fantastic turn out for last week's faux amber bead giveaway, and a wonderful variety of input from readers on the best natural beads. I have consulted Random.org, and we have a winner! Congratulations to Kindred Images, and thank you so much to everyone who entered!

For this giveaway, I asked for your favorite natural beads. The winning comment was a toss up between peridot and Job's Tears - beautiful natural seed beads that look very much at home with subtle greens. The combination is perfect for spring!

Next week I have a very special, totally new giveaway for you, with multiple winners and some fun treasure hunting! To help make the contest a bit more fun, I'll be getting a little help from one of my new favorite places - Pinterest. If you're not using this fun tool yet, you can request an invite and get started.*

Today is the last day of greens for the week, although I can't make any promises as we get closer to spring. Meanwhile, have a safe and happy St. Patrick's Day weekend!

*Warning - Pinterest may cause hours of fun.

Copyright 2012 Inspirational Beading
Subscribe to Inspirational Beading
Get inspired on Facebook and Google+

reade more... Résuméabuiyad

Rosa Maria's giveaway (2)

In my previous post, I forgot to mentions Rosa Maria's blog.

http://contrastes-rosamaria.blogspot.com/

Thank you again dear Rosa Maria.

reade more... Résuméabuiyad

Rosa Maria's giveaway

Yesterday, our postlady, who is now one of the people I best love to see, brought me these precious gifts.

 To show you how tiny these precious doilies, bookmark and flowers are, I took another shot with a match.

As you can see, the flowers are smaller than the match head.

And the packing too is very lovely. There were two postcards attached, showing some of the most beautiful sites in the town of Burgos.

Anyone with the slightest knowledge of lacemaking can appreciate the exquisite workmanship of these doilies and bookmark.  THANK YOU ROSA MARIA! I feel so fortunate to have won your generous giveaway.

In my next post I'll tell you about my finds at the bead and jewelry findings craft store in Tel-Aviv.  I am experimenting with good results which I'll show in my next post soon.

Blessings

reade more... Résuméabuiyad